Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2023 is: bombast \BAHM-bast\ noun

Bombast refers to speech or writing that is meant to sound important or impressive but that is not sincere or meaningful.

// The other world leaders at the international conference had little interest in being subjected to the host president's bombast.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bombast)

Examples:

“... this sprawling German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's classic WWI novel All Quiet on the Western Front is a film that feels both aesthetically dazzling and full of necessary truths: an antiwar drama that transcends the bombast of propaganda mostly just because it's so artfully and indelibly made.” — Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2022

Did you know?

Bombast settled softly into English in the mid-late 16th century as a textile term used to refer to cotton or other soft fibrous material used as padding or stuffing (its ultimate source is likely Middle Persian pambak, meaning “cotton”), but within a decade it had extended from literal stuffing to figurative stuffing, referring to speech or writing that is padded with pretentious verbiage. The adjective [bombastic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bombastic), which followed bombast a century later, has been a favorite choice to describe [blowhards](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blowhard), [boasters](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boaster), and [cockalorums](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockalorum) ever since.